Goddess Isis

[Moon Petal]

I’m feeling a pull towards the goddess Isis. It just randomly happened. Well, I’ve had my nose and eyes buried in Ancient Egyptian stuff so maybe that’s part of the reason. I’m excited! But I’m wondering if this newfound connection will interfere with my devotion to Aphrodite? I’ve read that having deities from different pantheons is bad.

How do I go about this? Also, any good books about her?

[SnowCat]

Anubis, Sekhmet, Bast, and Loki seem to get along just fine. Apparently no one ever told them that different pantheon can't work together.

[SpiritTalker]

You could set up separate devotional spaces for each to start, however the 2 are the same but with different names in different cultures.

There is a Roman terra-cotta statue in the New York Metro Art Museum that is Isis-Aphrodite. My iPad won't let me copy it so google it.

[Rain Gnosis]

You can work with them separately, they will let you know if there's a problem.

[Moon Petal]

Last night I meditated with my lapis lazuli and really felt connected to it for the first time since I bought it. Before bed I put it under my pillow and I had a dream interaction with Isis. She welcomed me with a big hug and told me that she will watch over me. It was lovely and the first time I’ve had that kind of interaction with a deity.

[SpiritTalker]

That's really lovely.

[Lord_of_Nightmares]

Aphrodite and Isis were syncretized. You can find Roman statues of "Isis-Aphrodite".

[Siona]

But I’m wondering if this newfound connection will interfere with my devotion to Aphrodite? I’ve read that having deities from different pantheons is bad.

The whole 'don't mix pantheons' thing really has no ancient basis. Ancient pagans frequently mixed pantheons. Both the Greeks and Egyptians adopted 'foreign' deities into their pantheons often enough, and both cultures mixed with each other, as has been said.

In fact, a lot of the common perception around Isis comes to us from the Greeks and Romans, not the Egyptians. Isis as a moon goddess, or goddess of 10,000 names, etc, were later additions from other cultures. Even the name Isis is the 'Greek translation,' so to speak. In the Egyptian language it would have been something like Aset. (Horus, Anubis, Hathor, Nephthys, Osiris and Thoth are all examples of other Egyptian deities whose names are filtered through that Greco-Roman lens.)

Although not super exciting, history books are good places to learn about Isis, and how she changed over the millennia. Isis: Eternal Goddess of Egypt and Rome, by Lesley Jackson, was a fairly good read. But, for a more devotional focused book, Bibliotheca Alexandrina has an anthology of poems, prayers, essays, etc, called Waters of Life: A Devotional Anthology for Isis and Serapis. Can be found on Amazon. (I believe there is also some Isis related material in their book A Mantle of Stars: A Devotional for the Queen of Heaven, but it is not solely focused on Isis, but many goddesses who share the title.)

[Moon Petal]

I’ll definitely look into reading those books, thanks!